via ‘Stop personalising Mnangagwa’ | The Herald December 24, 2014
Acting President Emmerson Mnangagwa is a national leader, as such Zanu-PF officials in Midlands should not seek to personalise him, Zanu-PF Politburo member, Cde Joram Gumbo has said. In an interview with The Herald, Cde Gumbo said party cadres who knew the history of the party should not trivialise Vice President Mnangagwa by making him appear as if he was a factional leader who belonged to people from the Midlands Province.
“Acting President Mnangagwa is against that because he knows that he is a national leader and not a factional leader as some people might want to claim,” he said.
“We are saying people from Midlands must stop personalising him and claiming that he belongs to them. He does not belong to anyone but Zanu-PF.
“When he went to war as a young boy he did not do so for Midlands or Zvishavane, but the whole of Zimbabwe.
“We are grateful as Midlands that President Mugabe appointed him as Vice President, but since his appointment, he has seized to be a leader from Midlands but a national leader. Together with Vice President Phelekezela Mphoko they are national leaders who work under the direction of President Mugabe.”
There are reports that some party officials from Midlands were barred from attending Acting President Mnangagwa’s celebration party in Mapanzure a fortnight ago by some overzealous officials seeking to personalise him.
Those who are alleged to have been blocked include Deputy Ministers of Industry and Commerce Chiratidzo Mabuwa and Mines and Mining Development Fred Moyo, as well as former Presidential Affairs Minister Flora Buka and former Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Francis Nhema.
As a result, some analysts say party officials including those from Midlands must treat Acting President Mnangagwa as a national leader and “not provincial leader” by giving him the respect he deserved.
They say while some overzealous officials might think they were doing Cde Mnangagwa a favour by blocking his alleged opponents from accessing him, such actions were out of sync with the Acting President’s views.
Cde Gumbo said no one had the right to stop party officials from accessing VP Mnangagwa saying such actions were uncalled for.
He said it was unfortunate that the private press were hell bent on presenting Cde Mnangagwa as a factional leader yet his loyalty to President Mugabe and Zanu-PF was indisputable.
“Acting President Mnangagwa does not subscribe to this notion of being a factional leader because he has always been behind President Mugabe and would never do factions.
“He is on record saying he does not want divisions in the party but unity, which he says is very important for the development of the country.
“We can see the private press has been trying to present him in bad taste in pursuance of their agendas best known to them.
“We are disgusted by the utter fabrication by the private press that Cde Nhema and Cde Buka were blocked from greeting Cde Mnangagwa in Chirumanzu on Friday. I attended the function and nothing of that sort happened,” said Cde Gumbo.
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